As the great improv comic Robin Williams once said, “You’re only given one little spark of madness. You mustn’t lose it.” Newark audiences were in for plenty of unique and entertaining moments, sparked with that little bit of madness, during the city’s annual celebration of improv theater.

From the Arctic Ocean to the shores of Hawaii, NJIT Distinguished Professor of philosophy and music David Rothenberg has long been traveling, clarinet in-hand, across the seas of the world — playing along to the tune of nature while recording the dramatic songs produced by whales from the ocean's depths.

Now, after a recent collaboration, those far-out sounds could make it into the music you hear during a night out this year.

Remoras are among the most successful marine hitchhikers, thanks to powerful suction discs that allow them to stay tightly fastened to the bodies of sharks, whales and other hosts despite incredible drag forces while traveling through the ocean. But how do these suckerfish sense the exact moment when they must “stick their landing” and board their speedy hosts in the first place? 

A team of biologists at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), Friday Harbor Labs at University of Washington (FHL-UW) and The George Washington University (GWU) now offers an answer. 

New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) in collaboration with New Jersey Innovation Institute (NJII), an NJIT corporation, has announced it will soon offer both a Professional Science Masters (PSM) degree program and professional graduate certificate in the rapidly expanding field of cell and gene therapy.

Where were you the night of Nov. 26th?

Anyone exiting the Summit Street parking garage that evening would have most certainly been counted among the witnesses to a brightly-lit, taped-off scene surrounding a faded-white ’98 Chevy Lumina where an investigation was underway — carried out by a special unit of NJIT’s own CSI students-in-training.

When trying to better the odds for survival, a major dilemma that many animals face is dispersal — being able to pick up and leave to occupy new lands, find fresh resources and mates, and avoid intraspecies competition in times of overpopulation. 

For birds, butterflies and other winged creatures, covering long distances may be as easy as the breeze they travel on. But for soil-dwellers of the crawling variety, the hurdle remains: How do they reach new, far-off habitats?